Obama creates group to help border-crossing kids

Jun. 2, 2014
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Doris Suyapa of Honduras was among hundreds of mostly Central American women and children caught crossing from Mexico into South Texas and flown to Arizona. Officials dropped many of them off at Phoenix and Tucson Greyhound stations, overwhelming the stations and humanitarian groups trying to help. / Rick Scuteri, AP

by Alan Gomez, USA TODAY

by Alan Gomez, USA TODAY

As more and more children are found trying to make the dangerous trek across the nation's southwest border with Mexico without their parents, President Obama created a federal group Monday to better care for them.

Headed by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, the group will coordinate the services of all the agencies of the federal government that come into contact with the children as they are placed in protective care in the USA.

"This is an urgent humanitarian situation," said Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "The entire administration is focused on addressing the immediate and pressing challenges to ensure unaccompanied children ... are protected and cared for."

The announcement comes as Homeland Security conducts a systemwide review of how the country handles deportation cases of some of the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the USA. The department deports about 400,000 people a year, and Obama wants those deportations to be conducted "more humanely."

As part of the review, Homeland Security is considering a wide range of options, including the possibility of allowing those without criminal records to stay in the country and to allow those brought to the country as children to join the military.

Any big changes to deportation practices could make it more difficult to get Republicans in Congress to agree to a broader immigration overhaul, so Obama recently decided to delay the results of that review until the end of the summer.

Monday's announcement was prompted by a rapid increase in the number of young children found crossing the treacherous deserts and canyons of the nation's southwest border.

Cecilia Muñoz, Obama's domestic policy adviser, said border officials have caught 90% more unaccompanied minors this year than they did last year. She said this year's minors are younger (many under 13), and they're more often girls. Many come from Central American countries facing violent drug wars and destabilized economies.

Once apprehended, they usually go through a series of government agencies with very different objectives, which is what prompted Monday's creation of a "Unified Coordination Group."

First, the children are picked up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which processes the children and takes statements about their journey. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may get involved as it tries to gather information about the smugglers and routes they took into the country. Then the Department of Health and Human Services takes over custody of the children to care for them and help find any relatives (parents, older siblings or other relatives) they may have in the USA who can take them in.

As more of those children pour into the country, those agencies have become strained. Mayorkas said CBP tries to hand over the children within 72 hours, but that process has become difficult. The children remain in HHS custody an additional 30-45 days while suitable housing options are found.

The HHS has even turned to the Department of Defense for help in housing the children, who have overwhelmed facilities along the border. Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio houses up 1,200 of these children, and Naval Base Ventura County in Oxnard, Calif., will soon house 600.

"We're backing up in facilities that were never designed for children," Fugate said.

Federal officials have sought help from the governments of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to minimize the number of children who have fled those countries for the USA.

"We have enlisted international assistance in spreading the word about this perilous journey, especially for children," Muñoz said.

She is aware there are rumors that many in Central America feel that children smuggled into the USA will be able to stay and win U.S. citizenship. Muñoz made clear that the children are all placed in formal deportation proceedings and may be forced to return to their home countries. She stressed that the children arriving this year are coming too late to qualify for a federal program created by Obama that allows young undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and would not qualify for any immigration bill approved by Congress this year.

"What's driving this is what's happening in their home countries, in particular violence and fear, poor economic conditions and the desire to be reunited with parents in the United States," she said. "(That's why) we are focused right now only really ... on the humanitarian situation."